Open Primaries

Friday, April 08, 2016

Dear Hanksteristas,Please join independent voters and open primary advocates on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, April 14th at 12:00 pm to protest the lock out of independent voters from the New York presidential primary.

3.2 million voters will be denied the right to cast ballots in the New York Presidential Primary on April 19th !

The NYC Independence Clubs, IndependentVoting.org, OpenPrimaries.org, independent voters and advocates of open primaries will gather on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, April 14th at 12:00 pm to address the glaring shortcomings in New York's election system that will exclude millions of voters in the state - close to one million in NYC - from casting ballots in the primary.

We will be joined by Assemblyman Fred Thiele who is an advocate for opening up New York's primary election process. Assemblyman Thiele is the author of a bill to open the Presidential Primary to independents and a bill for Top Two nonpartisan elections in New York State.

Independents are playing an important role in shaping the Presidential Primary contests in those states with open primaries and caucuses. For example, fresh off victory in the Wisconsin primary, Senators Sanders won 72% of the independent vote. Independents made up 27% of the turnout in Wisconsin.

"This is a fundamental issue of democracy and voting rights," said Jackie Salit, President of IndependentVoting.org. "Independents should not be required to join a political party in order to vote."

That evening (Thursday, April 19th) CNN and NY1 will host a debate in New York City where Democratic Party candidates Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders will face off.

Let's get a question asked at the NY debate about this voter suppression!

Please take a moment to email the debate moderators our question (below). Be sure to add your name and city (or borough) at the bottom and let us know by "cc'ing" Sarah Lyons on your email (slyons@cuip.org)